Dalbir Bindra
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Dalbir Bindra | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 11, 1922 |
| Died | December 31, 1980 (aged 58) Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Theories of motivation |
| Awards | Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Psychology |
| Institutions | McGill University |
| Thesis | Hoarding behavior of rats: nutritional and psychological factors (1947) |
| Doctoral advisor | J.C.R. Licklider |
| Doctoral students | |
| Neuropsychology |
|---|
 |
Dalbir Bindra FRSC (June 11, 1922 - December 31, 1980) was a Canadian neuropsychologist and a professor in the psychology department at McGill University (1949-1980).[1] He is known for his contributions to the neurobiological study of motivation and behaviour and his two books on these topics; Motivation: A Systematic Reinterpretation (1959), and A Theory of Intelligent Behaviour (1976). He also served as chair of the McGill University Psychology Department (1975 - 1980).[2]
Dalbir Bindra was born in Rawalpindi, British India (now Pakistan).[1] He had three brothers, all of whom found success in military careers: two became generals and one became an admiral.
Dalbir Bindra, known as D.B. to his close friends and students, developed an interest in experimental psychology early on while completing his B.A. at Punjab University in Lahore.[3] He continued his studies at Harvard University, completing his M.A. in 1946 and his Ph.D. in 1948, both under the supervision of J.C.R. Licklider.[2] At Harvard, Bindra took classes under J.G. Beebe-Center, and was influenced by other members of the faculty including Edwin Boring, Gordon Allport, and Stanley Smith Stevens. His fellow students included Virginia Sanders, Mark Rosenzweig, Jim Egan, Davis Howes, George Miller, and Leo Postman. Bindra's Ph.D. thesis research and first publications examined motivation and hoarding behaviour in rats.[3]
Career
Bindra taught for two years at American University in Washington, D.C., before joining the Psychology Department at McGill University in 1949, when Donald O. Hebb was the Department Chair of Psychology. At McGill, the core of Bindra's research examined the neurophysiology of fear and motivation and the role of the former in the latter.
Bindra's research interests included the human threshold of pain, psychopharmacology, and neuropsychology, with a specific focus on the neural correlates of intelligent behaviour. He published his second book, A Theory of Intelligent Behaviour, in 1976, describing the integration of neural processes underlying motivation and sensory-motor coordination to produce intelligent behaviour.
Bindra's Ph.D. students include Lynn Nadel, psychologist and co-author of the widely cited book, The Hippocampus As a Cognitive Map (Nadel & O'Keefe, 1978), and Roy A. Wise, emeritus scientist at the National Institute on Drug Abuse who focuses on brain mechanisms of motivation and addiction, including the role of dopamine.[4]
Bindra was elected president of the Canadian Psychological Association in 1958. His presidential address described the relationship between experimental psychology and behaviour disorders. Bindra also served as chair of the Associate Committee on Experimental Psychology of the National Research Council of Canada from 1962 to 1968. In 1975, he was appointed the chair of the psychology department of McGill, a position he held for five years until his death on December 31, 1980, from a heart attack[1]
